The door behind him shut quietly and he turned to find only his father had joined him. The earl’s face was lined with a deep frown, even as he crossed to the sideboard and poured them each a drink.
George smoothed his jacket. This room had very often been the place where he had received reprimands for poor behavior. He certainly deserved one now, even if his father didn’t fully understand all he’d done.
“You must be deeply disappointed in me at present, my lord,” he said softly.
His father arched a brow as he handed over the whisky he’d poured for him. “I wasdisappointedwhen you lost my prized stud horse at cards.”
George stared at the amber liquid before him. There were some wild things he knew he’d never live down. “Eight years ago,” he muttered softly.
His father surprised him by laughing, but it faded quickly enough. “Today I’m just…sorry, son. This feels like an unfair situation to everyone involved. But I don’t understand how it got so out of control so quickly, nor why this entire arrangement was so rushed that we’ve come to this point.”
George took a sip of his drink and thought of his mother. He thought of Lily and her suggestion that it wasn’t right to keep the secret of her health from the family. It wasn’t right for him to have to bear it all. In this moment, that felt very true. And yet he still wouldn’t reveal her secret.
“Where is Lady Westinghouse?” he asked instead.
His father’s mouth thinned with anger. “In her room. After her antics both today and from the beginning of all this, I don’t think she needs to be in this meeting.”
“Was she much trouble while we were all our searching?”
“She tried to be,” the earl said and then gave a wicked little smile. “But Lady Delacourt put her firmly in her place. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman so heavy with child who was also so patently terrifying. The viscountess was practically begging to be sequestered to her room by the end.”
“Esme is a good friend to Lily,” George said softly.
“She is that. I like her.” His father cleared his throat. “Is Lady Westinghouse the one who bruised Mrs. Manning’s face?”
The anger George had been trying to hold back all day rushed forward again as he recalled the blood on Lily’s lip when she found him. Thought of the bruise that still marred her skin. He gripped his glass harder, until his knuckles went white.
“Yes,” he said through clenched teeth. “She pushed Lily and caused her to fall and hit her head.”
“Lily,” the earl said softly, but with meaning. “I like Lily even more than I like the countess.”
George looked at his father once more. It was evident the old man had seen what he could no longer hide. And this secretwashis. But did he trust the man who had betrayed his mother? Could the earl possibly understand what it was to love someone when he wasn’t sure his father had such tender feelings for the wife he’d been lucky to have for over thirty years?
He didn’t have to find an answer to that internal question, for the door to the study opened and his mother came in, followed by Lily and Alice, whose arms were linked. Lily almost seemed to be holding her sister up and Alice looked pale and small with continued fear and worry.
Lily immediately looked toward him and her gentle smile buoyed him up. Her support was like water and it flowed through him.
His mother closed the door behind them and gave a tired smile all around. “It’s been a trying day, but I’m glad we could all meet here tonight. This isn’t a topic that can wait another moment, I don’t think.”
“Very true, my dear,” the earl agreed, and then went to the sideboard. “May I get anyone else something to drink?”
The sisters demurred, as did George’s mother. For a moment there was an awkward silence and then Alice, still gripping Lily’s hand, stepped forward.
“I must apologize for all the dramatics caused by my behavior today,” she said, her voice barely carrying even in the quiet room. “I’ve put you all in a terrible position.”
“No,” George replied. “A great many people putyouin a dreadful position. But I think it’s clear, just as I said earlier, that we cannot continue with this engagement.”
His mother gripped the back of the closest chair and her eyes fluttered shut. He watched her carefully, ready to rush to her if this decision brought back the weakness that earlier worries had caused. But she opened her eyes again and met his. She nodded. “I think you’re right, George. This was…poorly done in so many ways. I deeply apologize for my part in it.”
The earl looked at his wife with what seemed like confusion. Of course, he knew not the impetus for all this. That the reasons for the engagement went beyond a normal arranged marriage and that was why it had been so rushed and fraught.
“I agree that this is for the best,” Lily said. “But my stepmother has proven she’ll be difficult if she loses what she created through her cruel blackmail.”
Alice bent her head and the fear that moved through her was palpable even though she said nothing.
“And I promised you both earlier that I would fight to make sure she couldn’t hurt you. I’ll be like the god Ares. I will go to war to protect you if it comes to that.”
Lily looked at him again, her breath coming in sharply at his use of the name that had first bonded them that night that felt like yesterday. That felt like decades ago at the same time, it had been so long since he’d been allowed to touch her.
